DALTON, Ga. — The men and women who laid down their lives while fighting in America’s wars did not fight for themselves, says state Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton.

“They fought, and died, for you and me,” said Payne, a veteran of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division.

Payne delivered the keynote speech Monday at Whitfield County’s Memorial Day Community Celebration. Memorial Day honors the more than 1.1 million men and women who died while serving in the American military.

“Only if we understand the cause for which they fought can we truly understand their sacrifice,” Payne said. “We can only understand what was given when we understand what was gained.”

Payne noted that America was founded on the concepts of individual freedom and the rule of law — that all men, even the nation’s rulers, are bound by the same law. Those were the ideals that America’s fighting men and women fought for and that some died for.

“That is a cause worth dying for, and it’s a cause that’s just as true today,” he said. “Freedom must continue to prosper for years to come.”

The Memorial Day ceremony took place on the lawn of the Whitfield County courthouse, which is filled on patriotic holidays with flags honoring local men and women who served in the U.S. military.

“They call this the Avenue of Flags,” said American Legion member Leo Whaley. “I call it the Avenue of Heroes.”

Harrison Parker, chaplain of Dalton’s American Legion Post 12, delivered the invocation and noted that American men and women continue to fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This nation’s leaders need to come together, whatever party they belong to, and say ‘Let’s bring out sons and daughters home and defend our borders,’” he said.

Representatives of the American Legion, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Marine Corps League, Military Women Across the Nation, the Sons of the American Legion and the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed wreaths honoring those who died in military service.

The names of the 212 local veterans who died since Memorial Day 2016 were read as members of the Dalton Fire Department rang a bell in their honor. And the Dalton/Whitfield Community Band played patriotic music.

After the ceremony, those who attended held a picnic on the Dalton Green.

Dalton resident Marsha Ivory brought her grandchildren to the event.

“They are a little too young to understand exactly what it was all about,” she said. “But I want them to learn that this is how we honor those people who died for our freedoms.”